Thread: Audirvana Plus: Direct Mode

Direct Mode shortens further the audio signal by bypassing all CoreAudio, even its lowest level HAL layer.
In addition, the Integer Mode that was no more available in Lion is back for all the devices that offered it in Snow Leopard!
As it is now at a good level of maturity, I’ve decided to release Direct Mode as a public beta for you to enjoy it now. I will continue to improve it, taking you feedback into account, and pursuing the optimization ideas I’ve identified.
You can get it from audirvana.com blog
Be sure to enable Direct Mode in the Audio System panel of Audirvana Plus user preferences.
And enjoy!

Damien

Originally Posted by freddie40

Nothing left to do but

This release is truly fabulous. When combined with OSX Lion, the sound is the best I've ever heard.

It works just fine on Snow Leopard with my Ayre QB9. The only problem (minor) that I saw was that the play position was working in iTunes even though I had deactivated it.

Works fine on Lion too.

As a side note to those trying it. You must uncheck "Exclusive Access" to get it to work.

Dave

Originally Posted by freddie40

As a side note to those trying it. You must uncheck "Exclusive Access" to get it to work.

Not really... you need Exclusive Access ("hog mode") on especially if you want to have the Integer Mode with it...
Had you an issue with it on?

Damien

[QUOTE=damien78;159322]Not really... you need Exclusive Access ("hog mode") on especially if you want to have the Integer Mode with it...
Had you an issue with it on?

Weird, It didn't work when I first tried it, but now does, both in Lion and Snow Leopard

Thanks,

Dave

Damien,

I have gone back and tried it many times.

It works perfect on Lion, the play position does not move

On Snow leopard it does not work fine. When I restart the machine it does not play. If I go to prefs and uncheck "Exclusive Access" and then check it the music then starts to play. This happens every time.

Dave

Amazing sound. Will replace v1.3.5 in my dock immediately.

By the way, how can I find out if my DAC supports integer mode? I simply switched it on, but have no idea if this is helping in any way.

Thank you Damien .. sounds great!

Sounds great on most material. The first DSD > PCM track I tried, though, I just got three loud pops and my Mac Mini locked up solid (had to turn it off to recover). Any special error reporting method we should use or anything you'd like to see to diagnose?

2011 MacMini, OS X 10.7.4, 8GB RAM, Schiit Bifrost DAC via USB

I gave it one more try. I restarted the machine (Snow Leopard) and started up a song. It took 20 seconds to start playing, so it does work, just SLOW.

Dave

No Luck on JKenny Hiface

Direct Mode is On and Integer Mode is Off, but no Sound





Audirvana Plus rev. 1.3.9.1 debug information:
running on Mac OS X 10.7.4

User preferences:
Remote control: IR: on, Media Keys: on (with volume control: on)

Playlists:
Use UTF-8 for all: on
Start playback at launch with audio file: on
Remember playlist: on
Volume knob control in vertical direction

Sample rate converter used: iZotope 64bit SRC
Polarity inversion: global=off, per track=on

Volume control: DAC only
Max volume limit = 100.0%

SysOptimizer enabled:
Spotlight: on
TimeMachine: on
iDevices USB: on

iTunes settings:
Completely deactivate iTunes playback: on
iTunes volume control: on
iTunes play position control: on

Audio settings:
Use Max I/O buffersize: on
Max Mem for audio buffers: 9984MB
Max Sample rate limit: 96kHz
Sample rate switching latency: None

Direct Mode audio path

Active Sample Rate: 96.0kHz
Hog Mode is off
Devices found : 7

List of devices:
Device #0: ID 0x7e M2Tech HiFace Manufacturer:M2TECH Model UID:com_m2tech_driver_HifaceDevice:Hiface USB-SPDIF UID:HifaceEngine:0
Device #1: ID 0x49 Soundflower (2ch) Manufacturer:ma++ ingalls for Cycling '74 Model UID:com_cycling74_driver_SoundflowerDevice:Soundfl ower UID:SoundflowerEngine:0
Device #2: ID 0x22 Soundflower (16ch) Manufacturer:ma++ ingalls for Cycling '74 Model UID:com_cycling74_driver_SoundflowerDevice:Soundfl ower UID:SoundflowerEngine:1
Device #3: ID 0x70 Line-out (Green Rear) Manufacturer:Voodoo Model UID:VoodooHDADevice:Voodoo HDA Device UID:VoodooHDAEngineci8086,1c20:0
Device #4: ID 0x6a Headphones (Green Front) Manufacturer:Voodoo Model UID:VoodooHDADevice:Voodoo HDA Device UID:VoodooHDAEngineci8086,1c20:1
Device #5: ID 0x67 SPDIF-out (Grey Rear) Manufacturer:Voodoo Model UID:VoodooHDADevice:Voodoo HDA Device UID:VoodooHDAEngineci8086,1c20:2
Device #6: ID 0x64 SPDIF-out (ATAPI) Manufacturer:Voodoo Model UID:VoodooHDADevice:Voodoo HDA Device UID:VoodooHDAEngineci8086,1c20:3

Preferred device: M2Tech HiFace Model UID:com_m2tech_driver_HifaceDevice:Hiface USB-SPDIF UID:HifaceEngine:0

Selected device:
ID 0x7e M2Tech HiFace Manufacturer:M2TECH
Model UID:com_m2tech_driver_HifaceDevice:Hiface USB-SPDIF UID:HifaceEngine:0

1 available sample rates up to 192000.0Hz
44100.0 to 192000.0

Audio buffer frame size : 512 to 8192 frames
Current I/O buffer frame size : 512
Physical (analog) volume control: No
Virtual (digital) volume control: No
Preferred stereo channels L:1 R:2
DSD capability: Unhandled
Simple stereo device: yes
Channel mapping: L:Stream 0 channel 0 R:Stream 0 channel 1

1 output streams:
Stream ID 0x1 2 channels starting at 1
1 virtual formats:
Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32bits little endian Float @44.1 to 192.0kHz

1 physical formats
Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32bits big endian Signed Integer aligned High in 32bit @44.1 to 192.0kHz

I wasn't too enthralled when I tried Audirvana last time, and let my trial expire without buying. Is another trial possible with the new version?

Have tried it on two machines:

Mac Mini (2009) optical out to Schitt BiForst / Asgard --- sounds very nice, actually used the same music I was listening to last night, and I would say it sounds "clearer" again --- like a layer of material was removed from between the source & listener.

Macbook Pro - at work, so no DAC, just the standard audio out -- but it does sound very good. (Actually have hog, direct & max buffers selected -- which is the first time I have been able to use max buyer on Lion without clicks & pops etc).

I experienced some unexpected skips, but the sound is awesome. More open, much more air, the sound really coming fully free from the speakers, voices able to breathe.

Damien, if you fix some of those remaining playback reliability issues, that some of us experience this could become a huge hit.

Originally Posted by AudioDoctor

I wasn't too enthralled when I tried Audirvana last time, and let my trial expire without buying. Is another trial possible with the new version?

I cannot really comment as I have purchased Audirvana already, but it looks to me like this new build is for the moment a fully independent free beta demo. Just check it out.

Originally Posted by Musicophile

I cannot really comment as I have purchased Audirvana already, but it looks to me like this new build is for the moment a fully independent free beta demo. Just check it out.

The beta uses exactly the same license mechanism as the full versions, including the trial period.
@AudioDoctor: I've sent you a mail to renew your trial.

Originally Posted by juliocat

No Luck on JKenny Hiface

The HiFace has a custom driver that is not providing integer mode... Now, the no sound is something else I'll look into.

Originally Posted by Musicophile

I experienced some unexpected skips, but the sound is awesome. More open, much more air, the sound really coming fully free from the speakers, voices able to breathe.

Damien, if you fix some of those remaining playback reliability issues, that some of us experience this could become a huge hit.

That's why I've released it as a beta.
And those remaining glitches will be fixed to make the final 1.4 !

Damien

Direct Mode benefits to all playbacks, including DSD even in non Integer Mode.
There is currently no indicator as Direct Mode is used as soon as it is selected in the user prefs.
For Integer Mode, as it depends on the device capabilities detected during playback initialization, there is the "INT" indicator at the right of the LCD screen.
And all this information is also detailed in the debug info, though the main purpose of this one is not for nominal status reading

Damien